True Memory Use

  • When using perfmon I can see how much memory is (dynamically) allocated to SQL Server but what I really need to see is how much of that memory it's ACTUALLY using while I'm monitoring it. Is there any way of seeing this please??

  • See counter SQL Server : Memory Manager/Total Server Memory(KB) that indicates Total amount of dynamic memory the server is currently consuming

  • That's the one I use, however it is always static, as in the maximum amount it has needed since the last bounce because it doesn't release it, does it, unless forced to. The fact that there was a memory spike 4 weeks ago doesn't help me see the normal daily usage. I want to know how much within the amount shown that is actually being consumed. Is my understanding correct, can you help please?

  • From BOL.

    "When an instance of SQL Server starts, it typically acquires 8 to 12 MB of memory to complete the initialization process. After the instance has finished initializing, it acquires no more memory until users connect to it and start generating a workload. The instance then keeps acquiring memory as required to support the workload. As more users connect and run queries, SQL Server acquires the additional memory required to support the demand. The instance will keep acquiring memory until it reaches its memory allocation target, it will not free any memory until it reaches the lower limit of the target.

    To acquire as much memory as possible without generating excess paging I/O, each instance of SQL Server sets a target of acquiring memory until free physical memory on the computer is in the range of 4 MB to 10 MB. This range was chosen because testing has shown that Windows NT and Windows 2000 have minimal memory swapping until the memory allocations equal the available physical memory minus 4 MB. An instance of SQL Server that is processing a heavy workload keeps the free physical memory at the lower end (4 MB) of the range; an instance that is processing a light workload keeps the free memory at the higher end of the range (10 MB)."

  • Thanks very much for your help, appreciate it.

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